Floating real estate in form of houseboats is a fairly established business - what will lead us to ocean colonization is just going a step further from where we stand right now - ocean colonization will probably develop on several axes - see more about those business axes of ocean colonization - some of those axes wil develop on the water surface some of them below the surface.

For some a floating home is a luxury or a hobby, but for others it may soon be (or already is) an absolute necessity. Take residents of Amsterdam for example: 20% of the country is already underwater and concerns about life on land have prompted some creative designs for future living. Necessity is the mother of invention and this case is no exception with Dutch designers stepping up to the challenge of creating modern floating homes suitable to more permanent living.

The German firm of Floating Homes GMBH has developed a number of sleek models, designs and real-life prototypes that take cutting edge German architectural design out onto the water. Some of their designs look like normal residences floating on flat modernist planes in oceanic space while others seem adapted to their dual purpose of resting and as well as gliding along the surface of the water.

The Jelly-Fish 45 is arguably the most ambitious approach to marine living yet devised. At 33 feet high and 45 feet wide, this structure blows most houseboats out of the water. Like the Trilobis the Jelly-Fish submerged lower deck for dining, drinking and viewing ocean life. Of course, at $2.5 million per unit one would expect only the best. A spiral staircase joins the five stories of the floating habitat and ample windows accommodate views in all directions from all levels.